


But when the light's out it's you and me now

by Vlindervin



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Friends to Lovers, High School AU, M/M, Nico curses sometimes because he's a teenager just a heads up, Tumblr Prompt, i still suck, imma shut up now, luckily cute farmer boy will is there to take his mind of things, nico moves to the country side but misses the big city, solangelo, the rest of the gang plays a very small part in this, you'd think that after publishing 36 fics i'd know how to tag but nope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 05:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13288362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vlindervin/pseuds/Vlindervin
Summary: That is the first mistake of the day because surprise, surprise, when you don’t look at where you’re going, you end up bumping into someone on the first day of school and possibly ruining your reputation without even having to say a word.‘Sorry, sorry, my bad’, Nico mutters, pulling back from the -- surprisingly broad, Nico notes with a hint of appreciation -- chest and getting ready to keep walking.‘It’s fine. I should’ve seen you coming’, the boy answers with a kind voice and when Nico looks at his face he is greeted by the prettiest blue eyes he’s ever seen, blue like a summer morning, and a smile so cheery it would’ve annoyed Nico if it wasn’t so clearly honest and genuine. (To be fair, it does kind of annoy Nico, but merely because it’s doing things to his stomach that he thinks won’t exactly be well-accepted in a little catholic town in the south.)Nico musters up the nicest smile he can while being this uncomfortable, which is to say, he offers the boy a tiny, awkward smile. The boy isn’t fazed, though, and continues talking as if Nico didn’t just almost cause them to both fall down.‘You’re new, right? I’m Will.’***Nico moves to the countryside and meets the rest of the gang.





	But when the light's out it's you and me now

**Author's Note:**

> I am back! With the longest fic I've ever written, so. Enjoy!

When Nico’s father told him they were moving to the countryside, he didn’t take him seriously at first. Not really. The words entered his mind, he was a little surprised, but for some reason he kept thinking he would change his mind and that it was nothing serious. So Nico went on with his life in the city, spent time with his friends, without ever acknowledging the fact that he’d be leaving in less than four months. 

It also didn’t help that his father was busy most of those four months (if Nico had been paying attention he’d have noticed it was because there were so many things to take care of before leaving, but the truth was that it wasn’t exactly a rare thing for his father to be busy with work so he didn’t think much of it) and didn’t think to remind Nico of the fact except for the few passing comments that Nico still did not take seriously.

Hazel for her part, did pretty much the opposite of her brother. She desperately clung to the last moments she could get with her friends and prepared herself for her new life far, far away from the city. 

But Nico ignored all talk of moving and thus was met unprepared by a reminder of his father, his deep voice saying: ‘You do know we’re leaving in a week, I hope. Are  
you even prepared?’

And then it became impossible to ignore. While Nico had been doing his best to not hear whatever news about the department, he’d completely lost track of everything and was not at all prepared to leave this life behind and start a new one somewhere deserted, full of farmers and cowboys or whatever kind of crazy people consciously choose to live away from all civilization. 

The thing is, Nico likes the city. He likes the busy streets and the noise and the big masses of people. He’s a silent person, keeps to himself most of the time. That’s not to say he doesn’t have friends, because he does, it’s just that a lot of the time he likes to be let alone with his thoughts. And funnily enough, the city is perfect for that. He can roam the streets without anyone recognizing him or even paying attention to him, not when all around other faces are living and breathing, doing things just like him and existing just like him. He likes the quiet of a crowd and the peace of a city. 

When he imagines the countryside, all he sees is a little village where everyone knows each other and where it’s impossible to go outside without someone recognizing you and coming to talk to you when all you want is to be left alone. 

He likes the city and he didn’t want to leave, but here he is anyway. Unpacking his stuff in his new, empty room overlooking some empty field while his walls are bare and his bed is cold. He hates it already and he hasn’t even set foot outside of the house since he left the car and walked up to the front door.  
Tomorrow he starts his first day at the one local high school in town and he doesn’t know what to expect except for the fact that he’ll be all alone in a big building without even Hazel in the same grade to keep him company. 

With that depressing thought, he crawls into bed and after rolling around for two hours, falls asleep.

***

The school is unsurprisingly small. Nico doesn’t know what else there is to say about it, except that it’s ridiculously small. His high school in NYC barely had enough space for the hundreds of students, but this is excessive. How do all the students fit in? Nico wonders when he nervously pushes open the door with Hazel at his side. He immediately gets his answer when he walks inside. There are not enough students for the school to be out of space.

Nico doesn’t know why he’s surprised by that. His father had told him about how little people lived in this town, but for some reason Nico still had that image of overcrowded hallways and noise everywhere you go. Not that this school looks any different really, just… less. 

How is he supposed to survive here for the next two years? Nico is not the best at making friends, never has and probably never will be. He didn’t get bullied necessarily, people simply thought him to be weird and smaller kids were often scared of him. It’s probably the combination of black hair, black clothes, depressing past that oozes off him in waves and pushes people away. 

Could also be because Nico isn’t exactly the most social of people and striking up a conversation with a stranger and, god forbid, small talk, are not part of his set of skills. Not saying New York had left him friendless, because it hadn’t. Just slightly less friends than other people supposedly had at that age. When compared to Hazel, it was a pathetic amount. But then again, Hazel did have the aforementioned skills and Nico was more than happy to have the friends he did have, even though they weren’t extremely tight. It gave him people to sit with in class and hang with after school sometimes.

The thing is, if he found three friends in a school overflowing with people, how many people will he find here that _he_ can stand and that also can stand _him_? He isn’t betting on many, that’s for sure.

He is not looking forward to this day to say the least. He’s nervous and a little scared and still a little pissed at his dad for dragging him out of his comfort zone and dropping him here, in the middle of nowhere, where half the time there isn’t even any signal on Nico’s phone. 

After getting their timetables and some information about how everything works from the overly friendly woman at the secretary, Hazel and Nico part ways with only Hazel’s _good luck_ whispered before Nico is alone in the hallways. His timetable tells him he’s supposed to find himself in class 16 and he has no idea where that is. He starts moving his feet in some random direction, hoping they will lead him somewhere right, not looking up from his timetable and suppressing a grimace when he notices the two hours of PE on Tuesday. 

That is the first mistake of the day because surprise, surprise, when you don’t look at where you’re going, you end up bumping into someone on the first day of school and possibly ruining your reputation without even having to say a word.

‘Sorry, sorry, my bad’, Nico mutters, pulling back from the -- surprisingly broad, Nico notes with a hint of appreciation -- chest and getting ready to keep walking.  
‘It’s fine. I should’ve seen you coming’, the boy answers with a kind voice and when Nico looks at his face he is greeted by the prettiest blue eyes he’s ever seen, blue like a summer morning, and a smile so cheery it would’ve annoyed Nico if it wasn’t so clearly honest and genuine. (To be fair, it does kind of annoy Nico, but merely because it’s doing things to his stomach that he thinks won’t exactly be well-accepted in a little catholic town in the south.)

Nico musters up the nicest smile he can while being this uncomfortable, which is to say, he offers the boy a tiny, awkward smile. The boy isn’t fazed, though, and continues talking as if Nico didn’t just almost cause them to both fall down.

‘You’re new, right? I’m Will.’

Nico mutters his name in response and Will keeps talking, a southern drawl to his words. ‘So, Nico where are you headed to? Oh, biology? I can show you the way, I’m headed there anyway.’

So yes, Nico did state he hates small talk like, two minutes age. But when this guy Will makes small talk, it somehow doesn’t seem that bad. There’s no awkwardness and he genuinely seems to enjoy himself and isn’t simply talking to fill the silences which -- Who actually enjoys small talk? This guy apparently. 

Will tells him he takes AP Biology and that it’s his favorite subject as he wants to become a doctor when he grows up. He talks for the two minutes it takes them to get to the right corridor, while Nico occasionally throws in a comment too. 

Then Will wanders off to his class and Nico is left alone again, though a little less depressed than he was before. Maybe it won’t be as bad as he expected.  
***  
The rest of the morning is uneventful and passes at a relatively slow, but not excruciatingly slow, speed. He sits next to a boy named Jason in two classes, who doesn’t speak as much and as openly as Will had, but neither is he scared of Nico and he can appreciate that. It’s nice. 

The two other classes he has that morning, he sits alone, due to everyone having a seat already. But he finds a window-seat in the back and observes the other students while trying to pay attention to his incredibly boring teacher. What he got out of that observation was mostly the fact that half of the people were asleep and that the other half was occupied with doing something else. It appears he’s not the only one who has trouble paying attention to what’s being said at the front.

A couple people look at him weirdly and whisper something to their friends which is usually followed by their friends looking at Nico too and shaking their head, but it doesn’t seem malicious. At least, Nico doesn’t think it is. At least, that’s what he tries to convince himself of when he gets paranoid and is scared people are laughing at his hair or his clothes or something else about him. It wouldn’t be the first time. 

But mostly, he succeeds in somewhat believing most people are nice by repeating this to himself over and over again. He smiles back at people who do the effort of acknowledging him in person. A small, awkward smile, but a smile nonetheless. He’s trying.

or lunch, he decides he better just find Hazel and sit with her in the cafeteria when he bumps into someone. Again. What is up with him today?  
When he looks up to the person to apologize he comes face to face with Will. Again. 

Surely, he’s going to say something about it now, surely you can’t bump into someone twice without pissing off the other person. But apparently the universe decided to be nice to him -- must’ve been the first time -- and grant him this person who does not get pissed. 

‘What is it they say? ‘Catch you a third time and I buy you coffee.’’, is his surprising reaction. 

For some inexplicable reason (this is a lie, Nico is well aware of the reason) Nico feels his face getting warm. He’s said two words to this guy and still he has managed to make him blush more than once. Nico doesn’t blush. It’s simply not a thing that he does. So why are his cheeks getting red every two seconds? Just because this guy has ridiculously pretty blue eyes and a smile that seems to contain the sun, doesn’t mean he has the right to make Nico blush. ‘Yeah, something like that.’

‘I was wondering where you had gotten off to. Do you want to sit with us for lunch?’

This guy was wondering where Nico had _gotten off to_? Like Nico could have been anywhere but this building, doing anything but following his classes like anyone else. Also, the invite to sit with Will and his friends throws him off a little. Things like this don’t usually happen to Nico. People don’t invite him to do things, much less strangers who he’s met once. 

‘Who’s us?’

‘Me and my friends.’ Will gestures to a table of people, almost packed and… enthusiastic, to say the least. 

‘No offence, but that’s like, half our grade.’

That makes Will laugh a little, a bright sound that makes Nico feel inexplicably proud. ‘Well, as you can see, there aren’t that many people here, so basically, yeah.’

‘I was kinda waiting for my sister.’

‘She can join too. What grade is she in?’

‘Sophomore.’

‘Cool, we’ll find her.’

‘Knowing her she’s probably already made plenty of friends, so she could be anywhere.’

They get in line at the food tray and from there, Will introduces Nico to his friends. They’re close enough for them to make out all their faces clearly. A girl with brown skin and a braid waves at them when she sees them looking and from there out everyone joins her, even Jason who apparently sits with them too.

‘That was Piper, the girl with the braid, she’s very nice. If you need an excuse for getting out of anything, she’s your girl. She made a teacher cry once when she forgot  
to do an assignment, it’s really impressive.’

Will takes a bottle of water, Nico a coke. 

‘Next to her is her boyfriend, J – ‘

‘Jason.’

‘You know Jason?’ Will seems way too happy about that.

‘I mean, I sat next to him in Latin.’

‘You take Latin? Dude, that’s amazing. I wish I could, but I’m a scientist through and through. All those words just get mixed up in my head.’

‘Well, I’m useless at science, so...’ Nico shrugs.

‘We all have our talents.’ This guy is like a walking bron of positivity, it’s almost too much for Nico to handle. ‘The stories are too bloody for me anyways.’

‘Don’t you wanna be a doctor?’

‘Yes, I do!’ Will sounds delighted that Nico remembers that fact. ‘What does that have to do with anything?’

‘I mean. Blood.’

‘I want to _save_ people, to _stop_ the bleeding. No one ever gets saved in mythology. Like, if I lived in a mythological story, I’d probably use my magic to heal people or something.’

He pauses for a moment and takes a look at Nico. Nico has the strong urge to hide behind his plate; Will’s eyes give him the impression that he’s scrutinizing every little detail on his body. Eventually, after what feels like minutes, but is probably closer to three seconds, Will says ‘You’d be a son of Hades.’

‘ _What_?’, Nico exclaims, promptly forgetting the fact that Will was observing him. ‘The son of the god of death? _Why_?’

Will holds one hand up, trying to balance his plate on the other hand and, surprisingly, not dropping it. ‘I don’t mean it in a bad way! Just, you’re wearing a _skull ring_ and the rest of your clothing is black, I mean-- Anyway, have you never seen _Hercules_? Hades is the best character in that movie. I’d be _honored_ to be his son.’

‘You couldn’t be. You’re too’, Nico does a vague hand gesture in Will’s direction,’ cheery and… sunshine-y.’

Will laughs again. ‘You’re saying that as if it’s not a compliment.’ 

‘Maybe it isn’t’, Nico grumbles, but he can’t suppress the corner of his mouth twitching which Will sees, naturally. 

‘Sure, Death Boy.’

‘ _No_ , you are not calling me that. You’ve known me for less than ten minutes.’

‘So? It’s never too early for a cute nickname.’

‘Yes, it is. And that is _not_ a cute nickname.’

They get their food and on their way to the table Will finishes telling Nico about his friends. How Annabeth is super smart and always ready to help you explain things if you don’t understand. How you should never leave Leo unattended by a fire. How Reyna is super intimidating, but also super cool and is currently dating the town’s rebel Thalia who rides around on a motorcycle and always wears leather jackets, but is ultimately a sweetheart. Nico immediately likes them both. 

‘And that there is Percy.’ Upon seeing the guy Will mentions, Nico raises his eyebrows. It’s hard not to be impressed by him. Even from where he’s standing, Nico sees the oceans hiding in Percy’s eyes. He has a strong jaw and perfect face. Muscular body. Anyway, Nico has never admitted to being exceptionally strong or capable of ignoring hot guys when he sees one. 

Because Will notices every little thing that goes through his head apparently, he laughs and says: ‘I know, I had a crush on him too. Much like everyone else in the school except maybe Reyna, but I can’t tell with her. It wears off when you get to know his personality, though. And, anyway, it's no use, he’s dating Annabeth and it’s pretty serious.’

Nico does not know what to say. He does not know how to react to Will casually admitting to having had a crush on a boy and casually assuming Nico thought Percy was hot. Not that he’s wrong exactly, but Nico has never been this easy in regards to his sexuality. The first time he acknowledged it was when Bianca was still alive and he told her he sometimes wondered what it would be like to kiss a boy instead of a girl and she told him that whatever he was feeling was okay and normal. He must’ve been around ten at the time. But then she died and for a long time he didn’t want to think of that part of him because he had somehow convinced himself that Bianca was the only person who would ever accept him for it and now she wasn’t even here to defend him or make him feel better when the world was a dark place.

It wasn’t until he was fourteen years old that he actively thought about his feelings and his attraction, right around the time most of the boys at school were getting girlfriends and started talking about girls and how pretty they looked, and he realized he didn’t really feel the same. He, however, thought Ryan, a dark-skinned kid with deep brown eyes, was prettier than anyone he’d ever seen, but Nico didn’t think it would come over well if he ever decided to speak out about it. 

Over time he realized that he would never like girls and that he better just ignore that part of him and live his life without ever experiencing romance, until one day his dad awkwardly asked about girlfriends and Nico fled the room and hid under the covers of his bed, waiting for his breathing to calm down and his heartbeat to lessen its pace. Eventually Hazel came in and asked him what the matter was and upon seeing her kind eyes, for some reason he told her everything, officially coming out to her for the first time. 

A couple months ago, after Hazel assured him it would be fine, he casually told his dad too. He didn’t take it badly, just awkwardly and after that they awkwardly skirted around the topic. The two of them do most things awkwardly, you’ll find.

But even after that, his sexuality is not something he talks about or acts upon or acknowledges out loud in any way or form. It’s not a topic of discussion. Not because he’s ashamed necessarily, but mostly because, though he likes to act like nothing hurts him, he’s scared of how people might react. 

And also because, though he may not be ashamed, he hasn’t exactly accepted it. Which is pretty much the reason he’s never kissed a boy, flirted with a boy, touched a boy in any way that isn’t strictly platonic.

So, when Will openly talks about it, his first instinct is to hide and go back to his closet, safe from the world. But then he thinks that maybe this little town could be a new beginning, a new way of living, maybe he can act like it’s not a big deal and eventually come to accepting it and… possibly acting on it. When he looks at the boy next to him he thinks he wants to. 

Funny how NYC couldn’t bring out the real Nico, but a small town in the countryside may just do the job. 

So instead of hiding he says: I’ll keep that in mind’, joins Will’s friends for lunch and finds Hazel mysteriously already sitting there, talking to a boy Will had called Frank, and acts like everything is fine.  
***

‘How was _your_ first day, Nico?’, his father asks that evening after Hazel happily chattered about hers and all the people she met. His eyes turned on Nico now, over the dining table, are serious like they always are. 

‘It was fine.’

‘Made any friends?’

‘I talked to some people, yeah.’

‘Any, uh’, his father clears his throat. ‘Any cute boys?’

Nico cringes at the awkward way his dad says _boys_ like it’s a word in some foreign language he doesn’t speak well. 

‘No, dad’, Nico answers. While he says this, Will’s eyes and smile come to mind, but not interested in telling his father about it as he’s sure it would be as unpleasant for him as for his father, he keeps quiet about that. 

From the other side of the table, Hazel lifts her eyebrows at him, a knowing look in her eyes.

He shoots her a glare, his father mutters an okay and goes back to his food and Nico plants his fork in the steak on his plate.  
***  
For the next weeks, it’s like he can’t escape seeing Will everywhere he goes. It’s like he’s following Nico or something and popping up at the worst times humanly possible. Well, to be honest, he kind of runs into every person at his school at least once every week, but Will’s presence leaves a larger mark on Nico because for the entirety of their interaction he physically cannot breathe. And that will do something to a guy’s memory. 

The first time it happens Nico is in the grocery store, in the evening, looking tired and wearing sweatpants. He’s looking for cheese his dad needs to cook, when he bumps into Will who’s somehow looking okay under the artificial lights while everyone else has the bags under their eyes highlighted and look like ghosts. It seems like Will’s attractiveness is not affected by mundane things like shitty lighting and fatigue. 

Nico seriously considers hiding in the aisle behind him because he just does not have the mental capacity to deal with all _that_ right now, but it’s too late. Will has seen him and is walking over with the biggest grin on his face. 

‘Nico, what are you doing here?’

Nico dumbly lifts the bag of cheese and answers: ‘Grocery shopping?’ 

‘Of course!’, Will slaps his forehead. ‘Stupid question. Are you finding everything you’re looking for, you seem kind of lost.’

And of course Nico seems _lost_. He can’t look _handsome_ , or _determined_ or like he just came from the beach like Will does. No, he has to look lost, which Nico can’t honestly consider to be positive. And all of that standing in front of the _fucking beauty product aisle_. Nico seriously hates his life right now.  
‘Yeah, actually. I can’t find the olive oil?’

Will smiles, takes Nico by the shoulder and turns him around. Nico is silently freaking out and can think of nothing but Will’s strong hands burning through his clothes. 

When he’s completely turned the other way, Will points to a rack full of… olive oil. Of course.

‘It’s right there’, Will says right into his ear, raising goosebumps all over his arms. 

‘Oh, thanks’, Nico mutters, shaking his head at his own stupidity. He grabs a bottle and when he turns around to make his way to the cash registers, Will is still standing there for some reason. Nico had expected him to leave. 

‘Need help finding the cash registers?’, Will asks with a teasing smile on his face. ‘See those long tables there? That’s them.’

Nico rolls his eyes. ‘I think I’m fine, but thanks’, he answers with as much sarcasm as he can muster. 

‘You’re very welcome. Always happy to help’, Will says, completely ignoring Nico’s sarcasm and smiling. Again, expecting him to leave, Nico starts walking towards the exit and still Will follows him.

‘Are you cooking?’, he asks, pointing to the tomatoes, olive oil and cheese lying in Nico’s basket.

‘Not today, no. It’s for my dad.’ 

‘So you do cook sometimes?’

‘Yeah, sometimes’, Nico hesitates before adding. ‘My mom taught me.’

Possibly hearing the change of tone in Nico’s voice at the mention of his mom, Will doesn’t comment on that which Nico is extremely thankful for. He’s not talking about his mother while in a poorly-lit grocery store, looking like he hasn’t slept for days. Her memory deserves better than that.  
Instead, after a couple seconds of silence, Will promptly says: ‘I’m shit at cooking.’

Nico snorts.

‘I’m serious, last time I tried to bake brownies I almost set my kitchen on fire. Even if I wanted to, my parents wouldn’t let me.’

‘Of course you did.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘I don’t know, you just seem like the type to suck at cooking and proclaim it like it’s something to be proud of.’

‘I own my flaws like I do anything else about me.’

Will is still grinning, like standing in line at the grocery store is the best thing that’s happened to him today. Nico wishes he were a bit more like Will in that moment. Maybe he wouldn’t feel like a goblin next to Will right now. 

Again Will breaks the couple seconds of silence by saying: ‘You should cook for me sometimes’, like it’s a completely normal thing to say to someone who you barely know and who is currently not breathing because of you. But then again, Will doesn’t seem like the type to care about that. 

Nico does not know what to say to that. Some part of him wonders if Will is _flirting_ but he pushes that thought down immediately because hope can be a dangerous thing. 

Eventually, after being quiet for a tad too long, he answers: ‘Sure, Solace. Why not?’

After both of them have payed and left the store, Nico has to turn right and Will left. 

‘I guess I’ll bump into you sometime this weekend. Or else I’ll see you on Monday, Death Boy.’

‘Don’t _call_ me that, Solace.’ Nico tries to shoot Will his scariest look, but all the other boy does is grin and wave while walking away. 

Nico rolls his eyes, ignoring the traitorous butterflies being born inside his belly and walks home. 

The second time they run into each other outside of school, it’s even more unexpected than the first time. Nico, his father and Hazel are eating breakfast on Saturday morning when the bell rings. Because Nico sits closest to the door, he goes to open it. Still in his pajamas and uncombed hair, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he opens the door ready to chew out whoever it is that bothers them at this hour while they’re eating because now his eggs are getting cold _dammit_. But. Instead, he says nothing.

Because, of course, there is Will. A packet in his hand, a bike on their lawn behind him and a ridiculous, bright yellow hat that says _mailman_. ‘Hi’, he says, when the door opens. ‘I was hoping it would be you.’

‘What?’ 

‘Well, the package is addressed to a Mr. Di Angelo. And I didn’t really catch your last name at school, _but_ I know you’re Italian so I thought _Nico di Angelo_ has a nice ring to it so I was hoping it would be you. And here you are!,’ he smiles triumphantly. ‘Also I know every single person in this town, but I like to attribute this prediction to my excellent detective skills.’

Nico is very tempted to slam the door in Will’s face, no comment, just straight-forward, because he doesn’t think he has the strength to repeat what happened yesterday, especially this early in the morning. He’s silently cursing whatever upper being can hear him for always letting him see Will when he’s half-asleep. 

‘Why do you have so much energy?’, he manages to get out. ‘I just woke up, calm the fuck down. You’re going to give me a headache.’

Will leans against the wall next to him and seriously, what the fuck, who allowed him to be all pretty and shit right in Nico’s face. If he finds that person, he’s suing.  
‘Well, to be fair, it is eleven o’clock in the morning.’

‘It’s also a Saturday.’

‘Yeah, well, I had to get up at six this morning to get to work,’ he taps his cap. ‘So you don’t get to complain.’

‘I really don’t care.’

Will rolls his eyes and hands him the package in his hands. ‘This is for you, Nico di Angelo. If you could just sign here. Thanks.’

Will jumps on his bike and starts pedaling after saying: ‘I told you I’d see you before Monday, didn’t I? Bye, Death Boy.’ And he’s off. 

‘You look ridiculous with that hat on, Solace’, Nico screams after him before closing the door. 

The butterflies are growing and growing. 

After that it just keeps happening and Nico wants to scream because he just can’t catch a fucking break, can he?  
***

One pivotal point in their relationship happens at night, under a cloudy sky, when the rest is asleep and both of them have their reasons to be out when no one else is. Nightly walks are nothing new for Nico. It’s something he’s been doing forever. When he lived in New York he would simply put on earphones and walk through his apartment, finding ways to calm the restless, sad energy raging inside his chest. Or he watched TV, baked a cake. Sometimes Hazel would join him when for some reason, she couldn’t sleep either. His dad has long learned to sleep through the faint noises coming from the kitchen. 

He likes the solitude and the calmth and the serenity that comes with the night. For Nico it’s always been a way to come to himself. Being around people all day and the world being illuminated is exhausting to him and being up at night, when the world is drenched in the opposite of what drains him during the day, helps him to be be able to handle other people’s energy the next day. 

In New York it was enough to stay inside and hear the faint noises of cars passing by and of people like him who weren’t sleeping. But here, in this small town, where barely anything happens during the day let alone at night, it’s dead quiet inside his house. There is no drunken singing or cars passing by. There is no noise.  
And while that is kind of what Nico was looking for when he got up at two in the morning, it’s not enough. After going his whole life with a constant background of noises, being thrust into a silent space takes getting used to. And the definite lack of noise, except the ticking of the clock and the beating of his own heart and the creaking of the stairs every time he moves, is deafening to Nico.

He feels trapped inside this house, this town, this life and he doesn’t know how to exit. He feels very lonely suddenly and he misses Bianca’s calming presence and the memories he has of his mother’s hugs. His father barely touches him except for the occasional shoulder tap. And most of the time, Hazel is able to silence the loneliness inside, but it’s not always enough and anyway, she’s asleep at the moment. 

He considers just going back to sleep for a minute, but he knows it’s no use. He won’t be able to keep still in one place long enough. 

So he does the only thing he thinks could work. He puts on his shoes, shrugs on his aviator jacket and gently closes the door behind him as to not wake up his sister and his father. Maybe if he hears the rustling of the trees and the howling of the wind, some of his inner turmoil will be calmed. 

When he feels the fresh air hitting his face and goosebumps raising themselves on some exposed skin, he instantly feels a little better. Breathing gets easier anyway. Though when he looks around he feels possibly even more lonely than he did inside. At least inside his house, he was vaguely aware of the presence of other people. But here he’s really _alone_ , there’s no one. It’s such a weird thing to him: a street, two streets, three streets without meeting any people. He feels so alone.  
He walks around for seconds, minutes, hours? without paying attention to the things around him, he doesn’t even know where he’s going if he’s being honest.  
Then all of a sudden, he’s startled by a sudden voice, almost making him jump out of his own skin. He whips his head, almost dislodging it because of the speed at which he moves, and turns to face the person saying: ‘Nico!’

And yes, you probably guessed it at this point, sitting there on a bench under some tree, is Will motherfucking Solace. Hiding in the shadows, holding something that looks like a telescope. 

Nico puts on his scariest mask and marches up to Will who’s looking at him with this little smile on his face like almost startling people to death is just a fun hobby of his. 

‘Fucking you again, Solace! Are you stalking me or something?’

‘What’, Will answers, smirking. ‘Not happy to see me?’

In truth, Nico is kind of really happy to see him. It’s like this is what he was looking for, going outside like this, finding someone to be alone with, just find some company. He doesn’t think he realized what he was doing when he went outside and he wasn’t expecting to run into anyone, but some part of him was still craving someone to chase the loneliness away. He tries to ignore why it is that Will is the perfect person for the task. 

Changing the subject, he shrugs and sits down next to Will on the bench. ‘What are you doing outside anyway?’

‘I could ask you the same thing?’

‘Missing the city, I guess’, Nico answers, which is true, but not the whole truth as he’s really missing his mom and his sister. ‘It’s too quiet here.’

Will mmms. ‘I’m trying to look at the stars, but it’s too clouded.’

Nico huffs. ‘You’re such a nerd’, but somehow it comes out affectionate. 

‘And proud of it too.’

‘Is there something about yourself you don’t completely own to 100%’, Nico asks, not expecting a real answer. He get one anyway. 

‘Sure, I have my insecurities. It used to be a lot worse, I’m pretty happy with who I am right now, but --’, he doesn’t finish his sentence, just shrugs. 

‘Really?’

‘You surprised?’

‘Kind of. I don’t know.’

‘I mean’, Will turns one of the buttons on the telescope and looks through the lens, but the result doesn’t seem positive, because he scrunches his nose and extracts himself from it. ‘You know how middle schoolers are.’

Nico does know. They were never especially mean to _him_ , but he was always aware of the cruel things they were able to say to people that are a little different. ‘Cruel.’

‘Yeah. Let’s just say they weren’t very nice to me.’

Nico can’t even imagine wanting to be cruel to someone as bright and absurdly kind as Will Solace. But when he thinks about it, that’s probably the reason they were so mean to him. _Because_ he was so nice. 

Nico thinks Will is leaving it at that, but he continues. ‘And then I started realizing I liked boys as well as girls and that certainly wasn’t easy, but’, he shrugs. ‘I’m over that now.’

Nico doesn’t know why Will is telling him all that. Maybe it’s the darkness bedazzling their senses, maybe it’s the fact that they’re truly _alone_ for the first time. But suddenly he has the urge to talk too, though he doesn’t really know how to start and how to form the words in his mouth, having very little experience with opening up. ‘Yeah, that wasn’t exactly the easiest period in my life either. It’s still kind of going on, actually. No girls, though.’

And… it feels good. To talk. He never would’ve thought.

Will turns his attentive eyes on him and looks at Nico like he’s saying the most important things he’s ever heard. But when it’s clear he’s not going to say anything else, Will nods and looks up. They sit like that for a moment in which Nico feels more serene than he’s felt in a very long time. Then Will asks: ‘You’re here with your dad and sister, right?’

He looks at Nico again and Nico nods. He doesn’t ask about his mother and why she isn’t with them and Nico is extremely thankful for that. He can’t stand it when people try to poke their nose in his business and feel like they’re somehow entitled to know everything there is to know about him. But Will doesn’t, he seems perfectly content getting the little information Nico willingly gives him. And not because he doesn’t care, but because he respects Nico’s unwillingness to talk. He thinks that’s why, with the power of the night, he wants to give Will more. 

‘My mom died when I was ten,’ he takes a deep breath before continuing. ‘I had another sister too. Her name was Bianca.’

‘What happened to them? I mean, you don’t have to talk about them obviously.’

‘Car crash.’

Will puts his hand on top of Nico’s where it’s laying next to him. If the mood wasn’t so serious, Nico would’ve freaked out. Now he simply accepts the comfort. 

‘I’m sorry.’

Nico shrugs. ‘It’s fine. It was a long time ago. I’m mostly okay now.’

‘I’d offer to show you some constellations, but there really is _nothing_ to see.’

A laugh escapes Nico’s lips. ‘I can’t imagine why anyone would be mean to you.’

Will side-eyes him and raises his eyebrows. Nico rolls his eyes. ‘I’m not mean to you, Solace.’

Will’s eyebrows lift even higher. ‘You sure about that?’

‘Listen, sometimes you say shit and I can’t take you seriously. But that’s not being mean. I could be so much worse.’

Will laughs at his little outburst and the sound somehow fills the whole night and suddenly the thick silence feels a little lighter and softer against his skin. ‘I’m kidding. I know you don’t mean the things you say.’

‘No, no I definitely mean what I say.’

‘Sure, Death Boy, sure.’

At that, Nico groans, the sound losing its strength when a sprinkle of laughter blends into it. ‘You were doing so good, calling me by my name, but of course you had to ruin it.’

‘Quite the contrary. I think I just made this whole thing cuter by using my cute nickname for you.’

‘You’re so annoying. There’s nothing cute about it.’

Will points a finger at Nico’s chest. ‘See, I know you don’t mean that.’

‘I absolutely mean that.’

‘No, you don’t.’

‘I hate you so much.’

‘And _another_ lie. Haven’t you heard? I know this might be hard for you to understand, coming from the big city and all, but here in the south, lying is considered to be a sin’, Will says in a completely serious tone.

‘Oh, my god, you’re impossible.’ But in truth, Nico’s heart is feeling lighter than it has in a very long time.  
***

The next two months are nothing special, though they are special to Nico. Most of the time he doesn’t spend at school, he spends with his newfound friends. He never thought it was possible to have such a big group of tight knit friends, much less to ever be part of one. But the group has opened its doors for him and accepted him without a fuss. He can hardly believe it.

It’s especially hard to believe in moments like these when they’re all sitting in the park, laughing and enjoying some fresh air after having sat in a classroom all day. Nico is lying on the grass. Next to him, Will is rested on his stomach, making a daisy chain with what seems like practiced ease and a concentrated look on his face.  
Without him paying attention, Nico is free to look at him and take in his face unbothered. 

Out of the group, he’s grown closest to Will, the boy easy to be around of and easy to talk to. Strangely, he feels more like himself when he’s around him than he has since Bianca. It’s a strange thing because he’s barely known Will for two months, and still he feels more connected to him than to anyone else he’s ever met. It’s a weird feeling, but a good one too. 

The sun shines straight through the foliage of the tree above and some of it trickles down onto Will. His hair suddenly golden and glittering. Something inside Nico breaks. A jar full of suppressed feelings he simply wrote of as being vaguely attracted to the first other boy who's into boys he's ever gotten to know. But the jar breaks and out spill all the feelings he put in it. The sparkle he feels every time he runs into him even when he pretends to be annoyed. The stars that grew in his heart when there were none in the sky and Will listened to him talk instead of watching them, maybe, hopefully finding them inside Nico's eyes. The fuzzy, comfortable feeling spreading in his chest every time they’re together.

And then he realizes oh. It's not just a crush, it's not simply mere attraction, it's not the excitement of being able to talk about gay stuff with someone. No, it's deeper than that. It's Will who understands him and is endlessly patient and makes Nico feel comfortable with _himself_ when he's around the other boy. It's Will being a source of comfort to him when he couldn't find it anywhere else. It's Will making him forget the negative feeling he has towards the world, towards himself when he's around him. 

It's being in love. It's Nico being in love with Will. And it's also dangerous, because he's acquainted with situations like these. They rarely end happily. Except if you're living inside a rom com and face it, how many gay rom coms are there? 

He's so fucked, Nico thinks while he looks at Will smiling a little smile and creating the daisy chain in pure concentration. He's so beautiful.

He should look away. Look away before you spill everything, before he finds out only seconds after you've found out.

And when he does look away, he catches Reyna’s eyes, who gives him a sympathetic look. He catches Hazel’s eyes, who gives him an understating smile and no doubt, the promise of a talk later.

‘I need to go home’, he abruptly says before anyone else figures it all out with one look. Then he takes his bag and leaves. 

God, he's so fucked..  
***

‘Favorite color?’

‘I don't want to say?’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I know you're going to make fun of me.’

‘Okay so it's black. There's nothing wrong with being a goth, death boy. Don't know why you'd think I'd make fun of you for that.’

Nico rolls his eyes and exasperatedly throws up his hand. 

‘Mine's turquoise if you're interested.’

‘I wasn't interested in your pretentious taste, no.’

‘ _Anyway_ , you dick’, Will says. ‘Next question.’

But Nico can't pass up an opportunity to strike back. ‘Did you just say a bad word, William? Honestly, what would your mother say?’

Will is the one to roll his eyes this time. ‘That you're a bad influence on me. Come _on_ ’, he claps his hands. ‘Ask me a question. We don't have all night.’

‘Ugh, fine. Uh, favorite animal.’

‘A cow.’

Nico stares at him without saying anything. 

‘What?’, Will asks.

‘How are you a real person, Solace?’

Will laughs his bright laugh that makes Nico’s insides all mushy and light. Nico hates it but simultaneously never wants to hear anything else. ‘I'm gonna go ahead and take that as a compliment --’

‘It wasn't meant to be.’

‘And I'll also let you know that _cows_ are some of the sweetest and most social animals.’

‘Are you aware you're talking about cows right now?’

‘I don't expect you to understand, city boy. Enlighten me then. What's your favorite animal?’

‘I don't know. A cat? Like a _normal fucking person_.’

For some reason Will gets an endeared expression on his face hearing that. ‘You're a cat person? That's so cute.’

‘I'm not cute.’

‘Yes, you are. Don't even argue with me. Greatest fear?’

‘Oh’, Nico freezes, not particularly feeling like talking about this particular thing right now. Not feeling like ruining this night by bringing up these memories. Because Will is the most perceptive and thoughtful person in this world, he recognizes the discomfort on Nico's face immediately and says: ‘We can skip this one if you want.’

Nico shrugs and tries to keep the shiver crawling up his spine down. He likes talking to Will and as long as they don't spend too much time on it, he thinks it should be fine. ‘Thunderstorms. There was a storm the night the car crashed.’

Will nods in understanding, a comforting look on his face that somehow doesn't feel pitying which is something very few people can do. ‘Do you want to talk about it or do you want to move on?’

Nico doesn't answer the question, simply asks: ‘First crush?’

Will moves on as swiftly as the wind moves through trees and Nico couldn't be more thankful for that. ‘Celebrity or real life?’

‘Doesn't matter.’

‘Okay well, I think it was Peter Pan?’

‘Peter Pan?’

Will clears his throat and says, in the worst English accent Nico has ever heard: ‘Forget them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come with me and you’ll never, never have to think of grown-up things again.’ while sighing softly at the end and looking Nico straight in the eye. 

For a second Nico is stuck staring at Will’s pretty eyes and feels the urge to take his hand and fly away with him. Or show him what a kiss is. But then he’s snapped back into the real word and he realizes how terrible that British accent was and he bursts out laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole scene. ‘Oh my god’, he wheezes. ‘Did he even _have_ a British accent?’

Will is laughing too. ‘I'm actually not sure. That's what he sounds like in my head at least.’

‘You're ridiculous.’ And somehow it comes out more affectionate than Nico intends. Will smiles at the tone. 

‘What was yours?’

‘Ryan. A boy in my middle school. Brown skin, long lashes, dark eyes. Very pretty. That's all I'm giving you. I really do not wish to relive my embarrassment.’

‘Aw, come on’, Will exclaims at that. ‘I wanna hear about a flustered baby Nico having a crush.’

Nico shrugs. ‘Well, tough luck.’ He wants to say _you’re talking to him right now_ but he keeps his mouth shut.

‘Well, if you don't want to give me that one, I'll raise the bar. First kiss?’

Nico feels his cheeks getting hot. He knows rationally that's he's seventeen and that it's not that unusual to have zero experience at that age, but the easy way Will asked the question suggest that he does have some experience and for some reason, that thought makes him uncomfortable. ‘Looks like you played yourself there, Solace. I have nothing to tell’, he says, trying to keep his voice from shaking at the thought of kissing and Will and what other things that leads to.

‘Damn. And I thought I was so smart.’ Nico doesn't know if he's imagining things or if the darkness is playing tricks on him, but he's pretty sure Will’s cheeks are also a little pink. ‘Well, I was thirteen. I had a girlfriend at the time, Melanie. She was real nice, until she dumped me after two weeks.’

‘Poor thirteen-year old Will. I'm sure it must've been hard for him.’

‘Don't laugh! I was heartbroken! I cried almost during the entire weekend after it happened. I only stopped when my mom made me tea and we watched all eight Harry Potter movies in one day.’

‘Nothing more effective than watching Harry Potter to feel better.’

‘I completely agree.’

For a long moment all they do is look at each other, a smile dangling from their lips and eyes bright with spoken words and hidden feelings and an immense joy at simply being here and existing together and hearing the stars whisper their encouragements from up above. 

Nico's heart is beating erratically in his chest, trying to jump out and make Will know what he's feeling.

Will’s smile is a small and charming thing, a small bright spot of light in the midst of the darkness enveloping them. He turns his eyes a little upwards, looking right over Nico’s head and breaking the eye contact. ‘The sun is coming up’, he says with a disbelieving laugh tacked to it. ‘I should go home. My mom is already suspicious of how long I sleep in the mornings.’

Nico laughs and pushes down the disappointment at the broken eye contact, already missing the vibrant blue looking into his. ‘My dad is used to it. It's a Sunday.’

‘See you later, death boy.’  
***

The sun setting showers the landscape into golden light, shines through the leaves of trees lining the streets, shines onto Nico. The electronic music coming from his earphones a stark difference to the beautiful scenery, but somehow fitting perfectly. He feels at ease here, without the presence of another person, for the first time since they got here. He's simply walking around, admiring the sky and thinking of his recent realization and what he's gonna do about it. 

That's a lie, he knows exactly what he's gonna do. He's going to keep quiet and keep up his friendship with the person in question and possibly never tell anyone and stay single for the rest of his life.

And that's another lie. Well, part of it is anyway. He's pretty sure Hazel knows and Reyna gave him a very pointed look the other day when he'd been staring that he's pretty sure she knows too. He doesn't think he minds, which is a new and strange but also amazingly great feeling. 

Also, he's been thinking about telling Will. Which is not a very Nico move. But then again, he's been going through a lot of changes so maybe it _is_ something this new Nico would do. He has to relearn himself all over again and it's a very exhausting process, but it's exciting which makes up for it. 

He's had crushes before (though none of them this deep, transcending the mere notion of a _crush_ ) but all of the boys in his sight were, as far as Nico knows, straight and not paying attention to him. It's different now. He knows Will likes boys too. And he knows he likes Nico’s company at least, why bother talk to him and spend time with him otherwise. Not that that means he likes Nico _like that_ obviously, but the odds are a little better. 

Having made his way all across town and seeing stars appear against the blue canvas, he arrives back home. 

His decision has not yet been made.  
***  
Nico and Will are lying in some field not far from Will’s house. Will is reading a book for their English class and Nico is struggling to make some math exercises that are giving him a headache. He wonders if Will would be up to trade. Nico can make both his and Will’s project on the book as long as Will finishes all his math homework. But he knows he needs to get better grades for math if he doesn't want all of his other grades to be pulled down, so he shuts up and tries to concentrate. 

The problem with that is that he can't. Every single thing distracts him; a bird landing on a branch, a bee zooming overhead, Will biting his lip in concentration, an airplane flying overhead, a woman passing by that's walking her dog, Will biting his lip in concentration, etc. 

He doesn’t care what his math book says one bit and he’s very fucking easily distracted by Will. Priorities.

But can you blame him honestly? Will biting his lip is a glorious sight. _Anyone_ would be distracted by it. It's not Nico’s fault he's not stronger than _everyone else_. No, it's really not.

And it's not just the lip biting. No, no, no. Along with biting his lip, Will is lying on his back, one arm under his head, the perfect position to show off his impressive arm muscles, and the other hand holding his book up. His shirt is riding up a tiny bit but it's enough to show a flare of honey-golden skin. Sometimes when he needs his hand to flip the page, he messes up his hair at the same time. He’s angelic and Nico is in love with him.

After reluctantly turning his head back to his book and being met with the depressing sight of his unfinished assignment, he can't suppress the groan that's been growing inside him since the beginning and let's his head fall forward onto the pages. 

Will lifts his head at that and shoots Nico a questioning gaze. ‘You okay?’, he asks with laughter in his voice, like he knows the answer to that question already. Like Nico amuses him somehow.

Nico shoots him a look when he sees the amusement shingling in his eyes. ‘Fuck math’, he says and throws his pen onto his book with as much force he can manage to throw a pen at.

Will laughs and closes his book next to him. He turns around and crawls over to Nico. Once he's settled on his stomach next to him, he pulls the book closer to him and throws a look at the exercises Nico is trying to make. Then he makes a hmm sound. ‘Well, you gotta find x. You got that, right?’

He looks up at Nico and raises his eyebrows. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I'm helping you _obviously_.’ 

Nico sighs. ‘Yeah, okay, that I got. I just don't know what do then.’

‘If you need to find x, ask y. He generally knows where x is hanging out’, he continues, pointing at some numbers with the pen he picked up.’

Nico rolls his eyes at Will’s explanation. ‘Yes, that's what I've been trying to do, but it seems y isn't in a very good mood today. Or I don't know, x sneaked out or something. Whatever, I can't find him.’

Will shakes his head and gives Nico a stern look. ‘Nico, please, y always knows where x is. They're letters, they can't just sneak out.’  
Nico throws up his hand in exasperation. 

‘Anyway’, Will continues. ‘I see what you're trying to do, but you're not using the right method. I mean, you can probably do it this way, but it's way too complicated.’  
He grabs a new sheet of paper and starts writing something down on it. When he's done, he hands it to Nico. ‘Here, I gave you the beginning, try finding it like this.’

Nico takes the pen and reads what Will has written down, and yes. This makes more sense. 

He starts doing the exercise while Will observes what he's doing, throwing in a comment once in a while or correcting careless mistakes Nico makes.  
It's a miracle Nico manages to think clearly and finish everything without bursting into flames. Will is pressed against him and their heads are almost touching. When Will moves his hand to indicate something, sometimes their fingers touch and Nico loses all access to his brain for a second and can focus on nothing but Will’s skin touching his. 

He can feel his breathing against his cheek and the warmth from his arms travels all the way through his bones. 

But it seems miracles do occur sometimes, because Will is a patient teacher and explains things much better than most of his actual teachers do and for once, he understands everything.

With a sigh, he closes his book and breathes out a _thanks, Solace_.

‘No problem, death boy. Wanna take a break?’

Nico is already getting up. ‘Uh, yeah. I don't think I can concentrate on school one second longer.’

Will grins. ‘Come on, I'll show you something.’

Before Nico can say anything, Will starts walking in the direction of his farm. He doesn’t go through the front door but rather goes around it to the back. He stops in front of a stall. Pushing open the door, reveals a beautiful bronze horse, with long manes made of gold. 

‘Is that your horse?’, Nico asks in wonder. He keeps his distance, though. The horse may be beautiful, that doesn’t mean it can’t still be dangerous. And to be fair, Nico doesn’t really have a lot of experience when it comes to animals.

‘Yeah, she is. Her name’s Caramel. After her manes.’

‘I got that, yeah.’

Will is standing in front of the horse, caressing her head and carding his fingers through her manes. He’s calm and treats her so softly. It’s clear he has experience and that he knows what he’s doing. 

‘You see that boy there, Car?’, he whispers to the horse, side-eyeing Nico. ‘He thinks he’s so funny with his little sarcastic comments. He also likes to believe he’s scary and tough, but I know even you can see he’s not, right Caramel? He just likes to be mean to me for some reason. God knows why, all I’ve ever done is be kind to him and -- ‘

‘Don’t listen to him. He’s as sarcastic as I am and I am not soft.’ He punches Will in the arm. ‘Why am I talking to a horse? Stop shittalking about me to your pet!’

Will gasps dramatically and covers Caramel’s ear with his hands. Then he proceeds to furiously whisper: ‘How dare you? Caramel is not just a pet. She’s my _best friend_. I even birthed her.’ He turns to the horse, that’s wearing a bored expression. ‘Don’t listen to him, honey. Like I said, he’s just mean.’

Nico puts his head in his hand and wonders if he should ask or if that’ll only make it worse. ‘You _birthed_ her?’

‘Well, technically, I helped deliver her. ‘

Now Nico is a little impressed. He also feels less like he’s in a bad horse movie and back in real life. ‘Seriously?’

‘Yeah, my parents were away and her mother started giving birth to her while they were gone. I’d seen it be done several times, so after I called them and the veterinarian I tried to do it myself. She was halfway through when the vet arrived.’

‘Wow.’

‘It’s not that difficult really. It’s just nature. If all goes well, it should go naturally. Animals normally give birth by themselves in the wild without needing the help of humans.’

‘Still.’

Will shrugs modestly. ‘Do you want to pet her?’

Nico hesitates. 

‘Have you ever seen a horse?’, Will asks, eyebrows raised. 

Nico is tired of the city-boy jokes that are unfortunately too true, so he snaps out a ‘yes’. But of course, Will doesn't believe him. Nico doesn't understand how he can see through him so easily, like it's second nature, like Nico has suddenly become the most transparent person overnight, which he knows he's really not. He tells himself he's annoyed by it, but truthfully he kind of likes it. He feels known and that feeling fills him with lightness and a cloudlike sensation.

‘You sure, city boy?’

‘Fine’, Nico huffs. ‘I have never touched a horse. I've never seen a horse. The only animals I've ever seen up close were the animals at the zoo. Happy now?’

Will grins. ‘Very. Here, don't be scared.’

‘I'm not scared’, Nico mumbles. He's not _scared_ , just… intimidated. 

‘Give me your hand’, Will orders, making Nico jump up from the unexpected turn this conversation has turned.

‘What, why?’, he exclaimed a little too fast and a little too loud. 

‘So I can show you how to pet the horse’, Will answers slowly, like he's talking to a little kid. His eyes are glistening though, and Nico has a vague suspicion that he knows what Nico's thinking and feeling in that moment.

‘Oh.’ Nico stretches out his hand and allows Will to take it. The touch sends a jolt through his whole damn body. 

Will holds their hands in front of Caramel’s nostrils. ‘You gotta let them smell you first, so they know you're coming. Then you can caress their head. See?’

And then Nico is touching a horse for the first time in his life and holding hands with a boy for the first time in his life. While a part of him does feel the specialness and magic of the horse, most of Nico is totally focused on the hand in his. Will’s grip is strong, yet gentle. His calloused fingertips are pleasant against Nico's skin and his warmth is traveling all through Nico's body and lighting a fire in his heart, making it beat harder with every degree added. He tries to keep his breathing under control, but it's a little difficult and he doesn't exactly succeed. Next to him, Will’s outside looks as calm and collected as it always is. 

Their hands are moving over the horse’s head, but Nico barely registers the movement. All he can think of is how he wants to keep holding Will’s hand forever. And they're not even properly holding hands. Will is holding Nico’s in his for purely practical reasons.

After some time, Will let's go and Nico can breathe again. His hand feels empty though, like Will’s hand is supposed to be there always.

‘Now you can touch her farther back too. She's used to you.´ So Nico does, because he would probably do anything Will told him right now. He's on autopilot, charged on Will’s touch 

Now that he's actually paying attention to what he's doing, he can enjoy the petting of the horse the way he should have since the beginning. It's… nice. 

‘Can you ride it?’

‘What, the horse?’

‘What else?’

Will mutters something under his breath about riding and faintly blushes. 

After Will promises he’ll show Nico how to ride a horse some other time and Nico saying he doesn’t actually want that thank you very much, Will puts Caramel back into her stall and claims she needs to rest. 

After closing the wooden door behind him with a boom, he turns to Nico. ‘You hungry? I can go get us a snack inside.’

NIco answers that he is in fact pretty hungry and Will shows him the way inside his house. The inside of the house looks like the typical farm house. There’s a lot of wood and a faint smell of lavender in the air. It’s cozy and warm and looks comfortable. Nico is not surprised in the least. He can perfectly imagine Will living here.  
Arriving in the kitchen, they bump into Will’s mom cleaning up the fridge. ‘Hey, mom’, Will greets her and makes his way to the kitchen cabinets. ‘This is Nico, I’ve told you about him.’

‘Yes, of course’, Mrs. Solace shakes Nico’s hand. ‘Nice to meet you, Nico.’

Mrs. Solace’s southern accent is as heavy as her son’s. She looks a lot like Will, the same golden curls and kind smile. Nico wonders what Will told her about him. The knowledge that Will talks about him at all is enough to make him a little short on breath. 

‘Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Solace.’

‘Oh, please’, she makes a hand gesture like she’s trying to wave Nico’s words away. ‘Call me Naomi.’ Then she turns her attention to her son who currently has his head inside the cabinet. ‘What are you looking for, Will? I thought you were studying.’

Will extracts his head and looks at her. ‘We were, but I got a little hungry. I’m just getting something to eat and then we’ll leave again.’ He grabs a couple things from the cabinet and closes the door with his nose because his hands are too full.

‘And you’re taking all of that?’, his mother answers, eyebrows raised high.

‘We’re both growing boys, mom. We need it.’

Naomi shakes her head, but smiles. ‘Okay, then. If you say so. Have fun, boys.’

Will kisses his mom’s cheek when he passes her and Nico waves at her and says: ‘Bye, mrs. S -- Naomi.’

Before they’re completely out of the kitchen, Nico sees Mrs. Solace raising her eyebrows at Will in a way that seems significant and Will rolling his eyes at her, but faintly blushing with a small smile on his face. Nico doesn’t know what that’s all about. 

When they’re officially out of the house with the door closed, Will asks: ‘Should we go eat these somewhere?’

‘Sure.’

‘I know just the place.’

They walk in silence for a while and Nico thinks of how much he loves he this. These moments where he’s alone with Will and it feels like they’re the only two people on the earth, no one there to bother them, just them and the endless possibility to do whatever they want. He wants to stay in this bubble forever. 

‘So did you know that our friends have a bet running about us?’, Will asks, breaking the silence.

Nico sighs. ‘Yeah, I do.’

‘Oh’, Will sounds surprised by that for some reason.

‘I heard them talking about it two days ago.’ Two days ago, Nico had walked in on a conversation between Jason, Leo and Percy by their lockers. They didn’t notice him at first and they weren’t exactly being quiet so before interrupting them and asking what the hell they were doing, betting on his life, he heard enough to understand that their friends tried to predict when Nico and Will would get together and could also include some other details if they wanted, like who kissed who or who confessed their feelings first. There was money involved and from what he heard, pretty much all their friends played a part in it, but these three were the most serious about it. 

‘And what are your thoughts on that?’, Will asks.

‘What are my thoughts on the bet?’

Will nodds. What are Nico’s thoughts on the bet? Well, the bet frustrates him because he wants them to be right, but he’s also pretty sure Will doesn’t. His thoughts on the bet are somber and sad and not meant for WIll’s ears. So instead he says; ‘My thoughts are that our friends are idiots.’

Will smiles and sits down on a rock, next to a streaming river and waves Nico over to come sit next to him. He drops the snacks on the ground in front of the rock. For a while, all that breaks the silence is the stream of the gentle river, the singing of birds and Nico picking up a Kit Kat and playing with the packing.

‘Are they, though?’, Will asks eventually, not smiling anymore, looking forward. 

Nico shrugs. ‘Nothing we didn’t know already.’

Will nods again and smiles, seemingly pondering over something, Nico thinks, though he doesn’t understand what or where it suddenly comes from. 

He doesn’t know what to say to that, so he keep quiet, waiting for Will to explain what’s going on. Then all of a sudden Will’s face is moving closer to Nico's and the piercing blue of his eyes is even more piercing that it normally is and Nico forgets how to breathe. He can smell Will’s scent so clearly and he can count the freckles on his cheeks and there's barely any room between their lips so naturally the most appropriate reaction is to yank his head back and exclaim a freaked out: ‘What are you doing?’

‘What does it look like?’, Will answers, a little indignant. He’s still leaning into Nico’s space, though Nico has already moved his head way out of reach for Will’s.  
Eventually, Will moves back, scooting as far away form Nico as the rock allows. HIs eyes are looking at his shoes and he looks insecure all of a sudden, the light inside him dimmed and retreating like he’s scared of something. Like he’s scared of Nico, which makes absolutely no sense because as far as Nico knows he hasn’t done anything scary and Will isn’t particularly afraid of what people have to say. Not anymore, at least.

‘Did I--’, Will starts talking, taking a breath and bravely looking Nico in the eye. ‘Did I read things wrong? ‘Cause if that’s the case then we’ll just forget this happened and I won’t try anything again, promise. I just-- It felt like maybe you wanted this to be more than friendship too. That’s what I want, at least.’

A lot of things pop up in Nico’s head all at once. The first and most prominent one being that Will does have feelings for him. The second being that Will is looking scared because he thinks Nico is going to reject him. The third is less a thought than it is an alarm going off, wailing about the fact that Will was trying to kiss him and that Nico would very much like for Will to continue. 

He doesn’t understand himself at all. The boy he’s in love with tries to kiss him and all he can think to do is to pull back and freak out? Wow, he’s been embarrassing himself ever since he arrived in this town, but this really tops everything else.

Trying to think of what to say, what to do, proves to take a little more time than he anticipated and Will is growing restless. ‘Listen, if you don’t think you can even be my friend anymore, then… I mean, I’d understand.’ and he sounds so sad about, his voice cracking a little on the ‘friend’ and that’s what gets Nico out of his head. He knows what he wants and part of that is making Will the opposite of sad which is not what he’s doing right now. So he decides to follow his instincts, he’s always been better at that than at overthinking things, anyway. 

So he takes Will’s hand and says: ‘Shut up.’ Well, his instincts have the right idea most of the time; they just need to work on their delivery. It does the job though,  
because Will keeps quiet and just watches their hands in confusing. ‘I uh. I do want the same thing as you do. You just kind of caught me off guard there’, he lets out a little laugh. Will’s light is lighting up again and his lips are forming the beginning of a smile. ‘You know I’ve never -- Anyway, that wasn’t a rejection and I would like to be more than just your friend, Will. Basically ever since the moment I met you, if I’m being honest. But I didn’t think you felt the same.’

He’s blushing because talking about his feelings isn’t enough, his body has to make him look even more vulnerable than he already is in that moment, his heart is beating through his chest. It’s all worth it when he sees Will’s smile, now fully formed and the immense joy shining out of his eyes. Being vulnerable in front of Will doesn’t seem so bad just then. If there’s anyone in the world that’s able to treat Nico’s vulnerability with care, it’s Will. 

‘Of course I do. I thought I was being so obvious!’

In hindsight, Nico realizes Will really had been obvious but it was his own brain that decided to work against him. ‘I guess I just convinced myself the signs were all in my head.’

Will squeezes Nico’s hand and the pressure shoots warmth all through his body so that, even though the afternoon air is a little chilly, he can’t feel the cold. He lifts the hand that is not being held by Will and pushes a lock of hair currently shielding him from seeing the blue eyes behind Will’s ear and when he realizes what exactly he’s doing, he quickly drops his hand and feels his face flush bright red. Will’s laugh sounds like the most melodic of poems and even though he’s kind of laughing at Nico’s embarrassment, it’s a favorite song Nico could never get tired of, no matter how many times he hears it so he can’t bring himself to mind. ‘Shut up’, he mumbles, anyway, a laugh managing to escape with it. 

‘I can’t believe this is actually happening’, Will breathes out, intense eyes focused on Nico, his ever-present smile dangling from his lips. ‘You’re so cute.’

Nico rolls his eyes, but the heat in his cheeks picks up. Seriously, he doesn’t think he’s blushed as much today than he has in his whole life. ‘We’ve been over this, Solace.’

‘I don’t care.’ And, then Will is repeating his previous action, slowly moving his head towards Nico, the only difference being the fear in his eyes now replaced by joy. 

Nico lets him come closer without pulling away. ‘I’m kissing you now’, Will whispers when their lips are finally about to touch. ‘So don’t freak out.’

And Nico pulls away. ‘Fuck you, Solace!’, he exclaims, trying to keep in his laughter. 

‘Now, Nico, don’t get ahead of yourself. We haven’t even kissed yet.’

‘Oh my god, you have no idea how much I hate you.’ The implication of those words does something nervous to Nico’s stomach. He tries to suppress the image it conjures, because this is really not the time. 

‘I thought we had established that that’s a lie.’

‘No, you established that. I never gave in.’

They’re both giggling and laughing and the sunny quiet around them only intensifies the feelings of giddiness and happiness and teenage freedom. ‘You ruined it, I’m not kissing you anymore.’

‘Liar’, Will gets out between breaths of laughter.

And that’s officially more than Nico can take, the sight of Will’s blue eyes filled with joy and his whole being shining with happiness. Something in his chest is too big and overwhelming when he sees him like that, so fucking beautiful, and he just has to do _something_ to try and quell it. So he goes with his instincts again; they helped him out pretty well before. And then he’s invading Will’s space and searching for his eyes. Before Will completely realizes what’s going on, Nico kisses him. His lips fall sloppily onto Will’s and Will makes a vague sound of surprise in the back of his throat.

Nico rests his hand on Will’s cheek, then after a couple of seconds, he pulls back. His cheeks are burning (again!) and his lips are tingling, his body and soul feel like  
they’re made of glitter. He realizes this was probably terrible, as he has no idea what he’s doing, but he can’t bring himself to care or to even properly think about it. His mind has blocked entry to everything except the feeling of Will’s lips and the thought that he looks ethereal, that he looks out of this world, like some kind of sun god, sitting there like that in front of him, smiling, eyes still closed and fingers pressed against his mouth like he wants to keep the kiss from leaving. Nico has trouble catching his breath seeing that image. 

Will opens his eyes. All the boys do is smile at each other for a couple of seconds, until Nico says, still smiling: ‘Sorry that was bad.’

‘I don’t care’, Will answers and moves in to kiss him again. His hands come to rest on Nico’s cheek and neck and this time it’s a proper kiss. Will softly presses his smile against Nico’s. And it’s better this time. It’s simply lips pressed against each other in the beginning, then their lips are moving against each other. It feels like sunlight. 

When it’s over, Nico can’t find his voice, can’t find his words, his thoughts, can’t find anything, except for Will’s eyes staring into his. Their foreheads are resting against each other. Nico does not want to leave ever and step back into real life. 

When his heart has stopped beating out of his chest and his breathing is back to being relatively normal, when he’s pretty sure his voice won’t do weird things if he starts talking, he says: ‘We can’t tell our friends yet, though.’ 

‘Why not?’, Will whispers. 

Nico sighs: ‘Jackson _and_ Valdez predicted we would kiss somewhere this week and I just really don’t want them to win the bet.’

Will starts to laugh again and then his lips are back on Nico’s. Nico could do this forever.  
***

They don't end up telling their friends immediately. The only person that knows is Hazel, but she promised not to tell, and only because the whole weekend that follows is filled with Will and Nico and Nico and Will wrapped up in each other, endlessly talking while lying in bed, watching the clouds drift by the window and making out.

It’s the kind of weekend that doesn’t normally exist outside some overly sappy tv show. It’s the kind of weekend Nico both hated and yearned for deep inside when seeing on TV before. As soon as something like that appeared on TV, he would always skip away. He hated it for its disgusting cheesiness and overplayed love and joy inside the actors eyes, but he hated it even more because it was something he desperately wanted but never got to have. He wasn’t the kind of person who found some consolation, some kind of way to forget about that loneliness when watching things like that. He was always the kind of person that didn’t bother torturing like that and instead zapped to some car movie full of explosions and violent crashes. 

The fact that it was also always a boy and girl experiencing those kind of moments, didn’t exactly make things better because for him that meant not only feeling lonelier than ever, but also slowly losing hope that things like that between two boys could ever be real. Of course, he knew relationships between two people of the same gender were a thing and sometimes they were even displayed on tv, but never in a cute way, never tender, never full of love. So he had nothing to base himself off and he started avoiding watching romantic shit all together.

But now here he is. On his bed, head resting on a beautiful boy’s chest, while the beautiful boy in question is playing with his hair and looking out the window, humming a tune under his breath. And Nico almost can’t breathe with how happy he is right now. He almost can’t believe this is his life, that he’s allowed to have this, that _this is his life_. 

No one is bothering them for once. Nico thinks it’s truly incredible how he could find the time to be alone in a city like New York, but here in this little town where no more than a hundred people live he can’t go anywhere without running into someone. Even at night, when realistically everyone should be inside their houses, he couldn’t find the place to be alone. Although, he can’t bring himself to even complain about that one, because it brought him this after all. It brought him this indescribable happiness taking over his whole body. 

His dad thinks they’re working on a group project together so he doesn’t bother them, not like he comes into Nico’s room all that much anyway, but still. Hazel knows  
so she definitely won’t bother them and all the other people he knows, don’t just come to his house so he’s safe. In his room. 

He wants to tell his dad and he will soon, one of these days. For now, he simply wants to bask in the bliss of this magical feeling without anyone interfering, without anyone asking questions. Just them, here, now. 

It is now almost six pm, the sun is starting to set. They’ve been talking and laughing and opening up all day long. Nico is pretty sure Will knows more about him than anyone in his life, except maybe Hazel. 

The entire day is spent in bliss and a lightness Nico hasn’t experienced since he was a kid and felt like flying when he tried to get higher, higher, higher on a swing set. 

He never wants to land.  
***

After Will has gone home, Nico can't wipe the smile from his face. The overwhelming light and joy inside him are too big to contain. He never thought he'd get this. This happiness with a beautiful boy, someone like Will who oozes goodness off of him and gives his kindness away like it costs him nothing. Which it doesn't. Kindness doesn't cost you anything, but Will is one of the few people that understands that. That knows this to be he truth and uses it. Nico never thought he'd end up with someone like that.

While he's looking out the window, the sunset showering his room in shades of orange, warming up his bedroom now that Will isn't here anymore, the smile never leaves his face.

A knock at his door and his father’s sudden looming presence breaking the silence, knock him out of his revery. ‘Can I come in?’, he asks.

Nico nods and his dad joins him in front of the window. For a while, no words are said and Nico thinks this might be the first time his dad has entered his bedroom since they set everything up. 

‘So, that boy?’, says his dad and Nico knows what's coming and braves himself for the conversation. 

‘Will.’

‘Yes, Will. Are you…’ He seems to have trouble forming the words, unsure of how to ask his son simple questions. ‘Together?’

‘Yeah.’

His dad nods. ‘I'm happy for you. He seems nice.’

‘He is. The nicest’, Nico answers, scrunching his nose in fake-disgust. His father laughs at that. Sometimes, they share a similar sense of humor.

There is something Nico means to ask, but he doesn't know if he should, if he wants to know the answer. Something he's been wondering for a long time. His dad never showed any kind of negative emotions in regards to Nico's sexuality but he also never showed any particularly positive ones and Nico doesn't actually know what he thinks of it. If he doesn't ask now, though, he never will so he opens his mouth and says: ‘Does it ever bother you? You know, me liking boys, having a boyfriend.’

Despite the tense situation and the dread he feels, he has to take a moment to relish in the word _boyfriend_. His dad doesn't answer immediately, but keeps looking out the window with a serious look on his face. After a minute of Nico’s stomach cramping, his dad finally says: ‘Of course not.’

Relief falls over Nico. After another silence, his dad continues: ‘I know I haven't… been there for you enough. I know it's been hard and that I should've been more  
supportive with you coming out and grieving and I wasn't and for that I am truly sorry, Nico.’  
Not used to having conversations like this with his dad, Nico doesn't know what to say to that. He shrugs. ‘You were fine.’

‘Obviously if you have to ask me now if it bothers me, I wasn't fine. It must've been hard for you, but I want you to know that I support you no matter what. You're my son and I love you and even if I haven't always down a good job of showing it, all I want is for you to be happy.’

Tears are prickling his eyes and burning his throat. It's all a little heavy to bear without crying but that would make this situation even more unusual. Nico can't remember the last time he cried in front of his father, can't believe he never realized how much his father’s silence and emotional absence hurt him. It all rushes in now and for some reason, it's getting a little difficult breathing. Knowing he'd break down if he spoke more than two words, he simply answers: ‘Thanks.’

After another moment of silence in which Nico desperately tries to even out his breathing and force the tears back inside, his dad breaks it again. ‘I've heard you sneaking out.’

At that, Nico's head shoots up in surprise and, too caught of guard to consider that maybe he could get in trouble for that, says: ‘I thought that didn’t wake you.’

‘Even back in New York I heard you get up at night.’

‘Sorry for waking you, I guess.’

His dad shakes his head. ‘Don't be sorry. I never mind. I just wish there was a way for me to make it easier for you.’

‘Why didn't you ever join me or tell me you knew?’

‘I didn't think my presence would be particularly wanted.’

‘Oh. Well, I wouldn't mind if you joined me sometime.’

His dad offers a small smile. ‘I'll keep that in mind.’

The warm colors of the setting sun soften the sharp edges and serious look on his dad’s face, or maybe it's the conversation they just had. Either way, Nico looks at his dad and thinks he looks kinder and more approachable and softer than he possibly has his whole life. 

‘Oh and Nico?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Your mother, she'd be so proud of you.’

The tears he managed to somewhat keep down rise again at those words. ‘Yeah?’

‘Yes. And so am I. You're very brave, Nico.’

A tear manages to escape, but Nico quickly wipes it from his face. His dad probably saw it, but he doesn't comment which Nico is thankful for. It's been enough emotions for one day.

‘Thanks, dad’, he manages to get out in a croaky voice and tears in his words.  
***

On monday, when they walk through the doors at school, Nico’s heart fluttering like a little hummingbird in his chest because he’s walking down the hallway _holding Will’s hand_. Will has the biggest grin on his face.

Never, in his whole life would Nico have imagined ever walking through his school holding the hand of another boy, another boy he also gets to call his _boyfriend_. It’s hard to believe. 

When they pass Reyna’s locker where she is putting her books in her locker, she gives them a proud and encouraging smile, Piper winks at them when they walk past her. All their friends give them some kind of encouragement, some are laced with a sense of _finally_ but they’re encouraging nonetheless. Some people outside of their friendship group look at them curiously but no one comments which Nico is thankful for. A part of him expected looks of disgust or homophobic slurs thrown at them, but they get none of that. 

They have some classes together. They can’t sit next to each other in most of them because of assigned seating but even then, they have trouble paying attention because they’re too busy staring at each other or occasionally texting when the teacher isn’t looking. Leo catches them at it once and rolls his eyes so hard all Nico can see is the white of his eyes, but he’s smiling nonetheless.

During lunch when everyone is seated, Leo shushes everyone at the table and starts talking: ‘Firstly I would like to see that I am very happy for you, we’re supporting you, all that jazz You get the gist. What I would like to know now is when it happened, how it happened, who kissed who, that kind of stuff. Spare no detail, we want to know everything.’

Nico rolls his eyes at Leo’s speech. ‘I’m not telling you.’

Leo seems shocked for a moment, but quickly changes his expression to one of polite disappointment. ‘Why not?’

‘Because one, I care about my privacy. And two, I know you’re only asking because you want to know if you won your stupid bet, so no. I’m not telling you.’

Then Percy decides to chime in and help out his friend. He turns his head to Will. ‘Solace, why did you decide to date this infuriating person?’

Next to Nico, Will grins and throws an arm around Nico’s shoulder. ‘You’re just jealous because you’re not dating the cutest boy in town.’ 

Nico groans. Percy doesn’t know what to reply to that while the whole table erupts in laughter, Annabeth loudest of them all.

Nico shakes his head and tries to keep his blush down when Will comes closer and says: ‘Sorry. Just telling the truth’, low enough so that only Nico hears him. Nico buries his head in his hands. 

When the laughter has somewhat died down, he takes his hand from his face and addresses Percy himself. ‘If that’s the case, sorry to disappoint. You’re just not my type.’

The cafeteria is filled with laughter once again and Annabeth reaches over to high five him. ‘Hey’, Percy exclaims accusingly. ‘You’re supposed to be on my side.’  
Annabeth kisses him on the cheek and shrugs. ‘When am I ever?’

Sitting there, with WIll’s arm still around his shoulder and their friends laughing at something he said, Nico can’t feel one single thing that suggests he’s still angry about moving to his tiny town in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing inside him that says he’d rather be in New York right now or that he needs to be alone, nothing that’s still mad at his dad for moving them here. Really, he ought to thank him instead. Because he’s positive that it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, it means a lot! I hope this wasn't boring and that you enjoyed it! Don't hesitate to leave a comment even if it's something small, because they honestly make my day.  
> Come talk to me on Tumblr @Vlindervin7  
> Title from Troye Sivan's 'Wild' in celebration of ts2 being on its way and saving my life.  
> Love,  
> Jasmine


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